


Taken

by WritingStag



Series: Kasspasia prompts [13]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Torture, hardcore angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 16:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17005416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingStag/pseuds/WritingStag
Summary: Deimos discovers Kassandra and Aspasia's relationship and decides to use it against them.





	Taken

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS NOT SPOILER FREE!
> 
> that being said, Aspasia is still the cult's leader but she is there entirely to take them down from the inside at this point and Deimos is already unhinged in canon I just amplified that. ANyways I hope you all enjoy! shout out as always to the ACO degenerates discord server for letting me torture and tease them with this and encouraging me. I love you all and I hope this doesnt kill y'all.

Kassandra stretched her arms above her head, enjoying the way her muscles tensed and loosened. It had been a relatively quiet day for once and it had been nice to just spend some time with her Mater. After everything that had happened… well Kassandra didn’t have many days where she could just be. She closed her eyes, feeling the sun on her face. She leant against a nearby pillar, just enjoying the sound of the ocean waves for a few minutes before her peace was shattered by one of Myrinne’s girls running up, shouting her name, her eyes wide.

“Kleio, what is the matter?” Kassandra asked, steadying the girl when she all but collapsed onto her knees at Kassandra’s feet.

“Aspasia… taken…” She panted, shoving a piece of parchment into  Kassandra’s hand, pressing her back to the wall and sliding down, tucking her head between her knees as she gulped in air. Unfurling the crumpled paper Kassandra scanned it, her heart leaping into her throat, all the blood draining from her face. In neat and perfect print the note read:

_Kassandra,_

_I hope you enjoyed fucking a cultist whore last night, I hope you enjoyed the way she touched you, because you will never touch her again. I told you to stay out of my way. Now she will pay for your failure._

It wasn’t signed but it didn’t need to be. Kassandra knew immediately who had written it. “Deimos” she growled, clenching her fist and crumpling the parchment. Rage and fear raced through her veins in equal measure. Kleio was huffing, trying to get her breathe back, but it was evident she was sobbing. Not unkindly Kassandra dipped and pulled her to her feet. “Tell me what you saw.”

Kleio wiped her eyes and Kassandra squeezed her arms encouragingly.  “I saw some men in robes and masks, they had Aspasia and she was hurt, they must have hit her head because she was all limp and they were throwing her on their horse and leaving, I found the note in her study and I ran to come get you.” Kassandra nodded, a sick churning feeling in her gut.

“You did well.” Kassandra said, already pushing past the girl. “Go find my Mater, she will take care of you and know what to do.” Kleio sniffled and called out a wish of good luck that Kassandra barely listened to as she walked away, breaking into a sprint as soon as she rounded the corner dashing for the stables.  She needed Phobos and she needed to find Aspasia and fast.

~

Aspasia came to slowly, her head pounding and her vision swimming. She coughed weakly, her entire body aching. She tried to move but found she couldn’t, her arms were tied behind her back, her ankles bound and she lay on her side. Groaning she rolled herself onto her back, her head pounding and her chest stinging. “Ah, so the whore awakes” Aspasia blinked, her vision still blurry as a face loomed over her.

“Deimos.” She replied, focusing long enough to recognize him. He had a sick grin on his face and Aspasia was immediately on edge. “What is the meaning of this?” She demanded, straining her neck to keep her eyes on him as she calmly circled her, a look of contemplation on his face.

“I knew your loyalty to the cult was wavering, but to sleep with my sister? To bed the whore who has killed so many of us? To try and command me?” He knelt, grasping her chin in his hand, smiling before spiting in her face and backhanding her hard, her face snapping to the side, a surprised gasp escaping her.  “I thought you were smarter than that.” Deimos knelt, one knee firmly planted on Aspasia’s chest, crushing the breath from her.

“Perikles needed to die as does that filthy excuse for a mistios and I expected better from you. I will teach you a lesson you will not soon forget.”  Aspasia didn’t have time to wonder what he had in store for her, for as soon as he finished speaking he was slotting a dagger between her ribs, a shocked and pained howl escaping her. “The monger taught me a few things before that _malakas mistios_ killed him and I’m eager to try out my new skills.” He whispered, stroking her cheek almost lovingly. “And who better?” he whispered, his lips brushing the shell of her ear as he tilted the knife, a fresh wave of pain shooting through her at the action. She did not cry out, determined not to give him the pleasure of hearing her pained cries.

“I will enjoy making you scream and beg.”

~

Kassandra dismounted from Phobos, her eyes never wavering from the man’s back as he frantically rushed along the small path, checking behind him every so often, his eyes sliding right over Kassandra each time as she followed him, silent and unseen. She followed him until he came to the mouth of a cave, barely noticeable. Kassandra would had missed it had the man not stopped at it, looking both ways before making to enter the cave.

He never got a chance.

Kassandra’s arrow flew true, burying itself in his eye socket when he glanced her way. Striding forward, she knelt and hooked her hands under his armpits and dragged him away, dropping his corpse in the bush she’d been hiding in not a minute ago. Unsheathing her spear Kassandra held it tightly in her right hand and she turned sideways and pushed her way into the mouth of the cave. It was a tight fit and she was nearly too bulky with her armor on but she made it, blinking in the dim light. A single torch, further in the cave was her only source of light.

The cave was wide here, 15 feet across before it narrowed and led deeper in. Pressing herself against the wall to the right of the tunnel that lead further Kassandra paused to take a deep breath, her hands shaking. She could not afford to alert the guards. She took in a deep breath and continued down the cave, keeping low and silent. As she crept down the cave she heard screams of pain and fear, the sound freezing her heart in her chest. She would recognize Aspasia's voice, even as tortured as it was now. Her heart and mind screamed at her to charge in but her body locked up, something she was grateful for as a moment later a guard strolled by and unthinkingly, Kassandra grabbed him, one hand over his mouth as she dragged him backwards and plunged her spear into his heart, yanking it back out through his back. Letting him drop, smearing blood all down her front Kassandra closed her eyes and took another deep breath as Aspasia screamed again, sounding absolutely terrified. Kassandra did not want to know what was being to her in order to draw those noises from her.

Taking a slow breath Kassandra forced herself to drown her out, focusing on the task at hand. Move silently, kill the guards, take out Deimos, save Aspasia.  Kassandra shook her head and refused to acknowledge the tears that leaked out and ran down her cheeks, flinching with each scream of pain and fear that echoed down towards her.

She encountered only two more guards as she continued down the dimly lit corridor, silently and stealthily slitting their throats and leaving them where they fell. Soon she was at the mouth of the largest part of the cave. To her left were a few cages, metal and sturdy. Pressed against the back of the cave, in the center was a slab of stone, Aspasia tied to it, her dress torn in several places. Even from where Kassandra crouched she could see the bruises, burns and cuts that covered her body. Rage boiled up into her chest, her vision going red when Deimos laughed, circling the woman, a dagger dripping red held loosely in his hand.

“I knew you would scream so beautifully for me.” He rasped, trailing his hand across Aspasia’s collar bones, obviously hurting her judging by the way she flinched and tried to pull away but held fast by the coarse rope around her wrists. Suddenly he fisted his hand in her hair and savagely jerked her head to the side, trailing the knife along her neck, leaving a thing slice as he passed by. “I have your whole life in my hands.” He paused and leaned in close, causing Kassandra to snarl. “Beg for it.”

To her credit, Aspasia said nothing, her chest heaving with the effort of repressing her screams and whimpers of pain. Deimos snarled and lifted the dagger and for a heart stopping moment Kassandra was certain he intended to drive it into her chest. Instead he stabbed it down, narrowly avoiding Aspasia’s neck and causing an ungodly sound as the metal screeched against stone. He reached into a box near his feet and roughly forced Asapsia’s mouth open, gagging her and letting her head drop. Before Kassandra could understand Deimos was cutting the binds that held Aspasia, quickly retying her hands behind her back and hauling her up by her hair and dragging her to one of the cages, throwing her inside it before slamming it and locking it, turning from view and tucking the key away before frustratedly screaming and kicking a barrel over, causing it to burst open, building supplies spilling out from inside it.

Knowing now was her best chance Kassandra moved, slinking along the wall and keeping to the shadows as best as she could. Her spear warm in her hand, she knew she could not, would not kill Deimos, even after all he’d done. But she wasn’t above turning him into a bloody mess. Rage and fear boiled in her veins as she moved, hyper aware of every sound, of every flicker of the shadows, of the way her armor moved against her body as she crept along. Deimos paused, turning his head slightly to look behind him and Kassandra froze, every muscle tense. She was sure he could not see her and so she held her breath and waited. He relaxed after a moment and that’s when Kassandra moved, lunging forward and putting all her weight behind a single deadly swing of her spear.

Her aim was true and the butt of the spear connected firmly with his temple and Deimos staggered, spinning to meet her but Kassandra was already drawing the spear along his inner thigh, causing him to howl and drop to one knee. “You!” He snarled, sword in hand now, parrying away a slash for his face.

“Me.” Kassandra replied evenly, keeping the rage she felt out of her voice and in her sword arm. Deimos snarled and gained his feet, lunging for Kassandra who easily stepped out of his way, grabbing his arm and flipping his body over hers, slamming him into the dirt before dropping to her knees and slamming her fists into his face. She kept going until Deimos lay limp, breathing shallowly, his face a bloodied mess, blood and snot smeared down his golden breast plate.

It had been easy to take him down, nothing like the last time they’d fought, but Kassandra could not think about that now. Right now her thoughts were solely on Aspasia. Staggering to her feet and leaving Deimos laying on the ground, his sword kicked away, Kassandra  rushed over, sliding to her knees in front of the cage and reaching through the bars, tenderly taking Aspasia's face in her hands , stroking her cheeks "It's okay, you're okay" She muttered desperately, more for her own reassurances than Aspasia's. She pulled the gag from her mouth, fingers brushing against the cut on her lip as she pulled the cloth away, making Aspasia flinch.

"I knew you'd come." Aspasia said, her face neutral but her voice trembling. A hysterical laughter escaped Kassandra and she stroked her face, feeling the warmth of her skin and telling herself everything was fine, desperately ignoring the blood that stained her dress and all the rips in her dress.

"Hold on and I'll get you out ok?" Kassandra pulled her arms from the bars, glancing around. Deimos wasn’t stupid enough to keep the key on himself so it had to be elsewhere. Before she could move Aspasia grabbed her wrist. Glancing down, Aspasia was biting her lip and Kassandra knelt down once more. "I'll be right back, I won't leave your sight." Aspasia nodded and Kassandra swore she saw tears glittering in her eyes. Unable to kiss her and reassure her as she wanted, she settled for taking her hand and cradling it between her own and kissed her palm softly. The gesture seemed to calm Aspasia who nodded and Kassandra got up and began to search for the key.

After several minutes of fruitless searching Kassandra gave up and made her way back to the cage and drawing her spear, wedged it into the locking mechanism and using her full weight, forced it down. After a few moments of straining the lock snapped and shattered and Kassandra yanked the door open.

As soon as Kassandra had the door open Aspasia was lurching to her feet and Kassandra was rushing to catch her, the smaller woman stumbling and crashing into Kassandra’s chest, who wrapped her arms around her and held her close, feeling the trembles wrack her body. "It's okay, I have you." Kassandra murmured, rubbing her free hand up and down Aspasia's back. Whatever they had done to Aspasia to make her so afraid, so vulnerable..... They wouldn’t get away with it.  "Can you walk? Or shall I carry you?"

Kassandra waited for a response, but didn’t get one, rapidly realizing Aspasia was soaking her cloak with her tears. Gritting her teeth to bite down her rage at Deimos and the cult, Kassandra drew her closer, kissed the top of her head and hushed her softly. Unclasping her cloak, Kassandra wrapped around Aspasia's waist, covering up as much as the damage as possible and cut her binds, freeing her hands before dipping and picking her up, Aspasia tucking herself into Kassandra’s chest.

"Come, let’s get out of here." she murmured, eying Deimos' unconscious body. He could be dealt with later, Aspasia needed her now and she was her priority. The woman shook and Kassandra felt her heart break. “They will never touch you again.” Kassandra vowed, her eyes dark, holding Aspasia tighter to her chest. She did not want to imagine what kind of torture Aspasia had endured at her brother’s hands, but whatever it was, it had been enough to shake Aspasia who until now, Kassandra had always considered unshakable.

She carried her through the cave, careful to not to stumble or falter in the rougher terrain, only setting her down so they could both squeeze through the small entrance, Kassandra letting Aspasia go first. As soon as they stepped into the sunlight Aspasia seemed to come more into herself, as if the bright beams were helping to wash away some of the horror of that dark cave. Without a word Kassandra lifted her lover into her arms once more, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight as they made their way back along the goat paths to the main road where Phobos was waiting patiently, his ears pricking as soon as he saw them approach. As if sensing something was amiss he trotted over and stuck his face against Aspasia’s, who giggled, actually giggled at the sensation of Phobos snuffling at her. Kassandra smiled and promised to bring Phobos a whole sack of apples once they returned. Kassandra smiled softly as Aspasia kissed her horse on his nose and pet him gently before she placed her on his back, mounting behind her and taking the reins in one hand, wrapping her other arm around her waist and tapping her heels into Phobos to encourage him forward.

Phobos knew the path home and as such Kassandra barely had to guide him, her entire focus on Aspasia who slumped against her chest and they trotted along, Kassandra afraid a full on gallop would jostle Aspasia’s wounds too much. The ride home was quiet, Kassandra feeling Aspasia taking deep breaths to calm herself. As soon as their estate was in view Kassandra saw a guard or a servant run inside and come darting back out right as they pulled up, Myrinne and Kleio hot on their heels. Kassandra smoothly dismounted before Helping Aspasia down, gently setting her back down on her feet.

“Thank the gods.” Myrinne muttered, first hugging Kassandra before gathering Aspasia up in her arms and squeezing her before holding her at arm’s length with a critical eye. “Kleio, get the doctor set up in their room, we will be right behind.” Kleio made an affirmative noise and ran back inside. Aspasia let Kassandra pulled her close, one arm around her waist and Myrinne on her other side as they guided her inside.

~

The next few days passed slowly. The doctor Myrinne had sent for cleaned and treated Aspasia’s wounds, hardly put off by the fact that Aspasia wouldn’t let him anywhere near her until Kassandra was by her side or held her head in her lap, brushing the hair from her face and soothing her as best as she could.

The wounds were a mixture of deep and shallow, but all of them intended to cause as much pain as possible. She would recover, but slowly, and until then, she was contained to bed rest, something she took to with more grace than Kassandra would ever be able to show.

For her part Kassandra spent most of her days with Aspasia, either lying next to her and listening to her read, or keeping watch over her at night, the nightmares that plagued her lover making her thrash and aggravate her wounds further unless Kassandra was there to sooth her.

At the end of two weeks Aspasia was well on the road to recovery and Kassandra herself could finally relax, her fears that Aspasia would not pull through finally being put at ease.

It was a slow day, Kassandra had just woken from her mid-day nap, something she required to stay up all night to watch over Aspasia. She stretched her muscles tensing and relaxing before she blinked the blurriness from her vision and found Aspasia smiling at her softly, propped up against the headboard, a book open in her lap. “Good afternoon.” She said, running and hand through Kassandra’s loose and sleep mussed hair. Kassandra grinned and propped herself up on one elbow and leaned up, drawing Aspasia into a kiss, enjoying the warmth and softness of her lips.

“I hope you have not just sat there and watched me sleep.” Kassandra said around a yawn.

“What else would I have done with my time?” Aspasia replied, smirking slightly. Kassandra shook her head, hiding a smile.  “Sleep well?” she asked, her nails scrapping lightly at Kassandra’s scalp who practically melted into the gesture.

“Im sure you could have gotten up and done something, now that you are no longer confined to your bed.”

Aspasia shrugged in reply. “I simply didn’t feel like it, you have watched over me all these weeks, it is time I returned the favor.” Kassandra grinned, her smile widening as Aspasia moved her book onto the night stand and scooted down in the bed, curling up against Kassandra’s chest who instantly wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and held her close.  They lay in silence for a moment before Aspasia tipped her head up to meet Kassandra’s eyes. “Thank you, for saving me.” She said, so softly that Kassandra struggled to hear her, even pressed as close as they were.

“Always.” Kassandra replied, her arms tightening around her lover, determined that she would never again let the cult or anyone else take or use Aspasia against her.


End file.
